Re: Kodak buys RSI!!

[ronn kling <ronn(at)rlkling.com>]

Everyone,

My first reaction when I saw the announcement was "great! Now they can put
real money and backing into IDL".  I know that most of the posts have been
negative, but I just don't see it that way.

First, as someone who is out doing cold calls to get work, the buying of RSI
by Kodak is only a plus. Now I can say that I do most of my development
using a product from Kodak instead of saying "a small company in Boulder".
I can't understate how much more comfortable this will make potential
customers of IDL. And of course, the more IDL customers, the better the
product should be.

Second, Kodak has the cash to add more engineers to the development team.
This should only improve the product we get.

Third, even if image processing is the emphasis and not pure science that
will only help us.  Image people are as interested in surface fitting,
fft's, 2D and 3D graphics, optimization, and statistical techniques as we
are.

Finally, even if (when) Kodak decides to expand out of the traditional IDL
market they will pay attention to current users.  To not do that would be
extremely shortsighted, and since Kodak has been around about 100 years I
don't expect that behaviour from them.

Call me an optimist, but I still think the purchase is a great thing!


-Ronn

--
Ronn Kling
Ronn Kling Consulting
email: ronn@rlkling.com
"Application Development with IDL"  programming book updated for IDL5.3!
Shareware and Freeware at: http://www.rlkling.com/